TyThanks for the great spinner. Will definately be the finishing touch on this airplane. Bill

Thanks Guys. I should have some more on a couple weeks. I need a difinte number. It may be my last run of them...

Thanks Ty

Ty , I would start a separate post , some people who have this plane tune out after a while , the spinners are great and as far as I am concerned worth more then the money paid

I finally maidened my BF109 today and was pretty happy. The pictures are in early morning sun so the colors are a little dark. I have a Saito 180 in this bird with Shinden retracts with modified position to bring them more forward and toward the middle. It was a pretty clean flight except for a very sensitive elevator. I am not sure if the CG is too far back or just too much throw. I am curious as to other who have flown this plane as to where they set the CG and throws. I have my CG at 112mm back from the leading edge and 15mm of throw. I hate to change the CG too much as the landing was very nice with flaps. It slowed down fairly well and didn't tend to nose over on take off or landing. I had had to cut my flying short as the internal baffler on the muffler fell off during the flight and I lost tank pressure and high end RPM so need to replace this part and give it another go. John

112mm is fine for CG. Maybe too much throw. Do you have any expo dialed in?

Well...bad news. Took the CMP 109 to the field today again. Tested the voltage of the batteries and all read good.
2x 5s 4900 batts reading 20.80volts each

Well......did a few take off attempts(put new wheels on the plane previously and it change the behavior on the ground a little....aka...wanted to pull to the right some for whatever reason). Anyhow......trimmed that out on the rudder and lined up again.
Got it going relatively straight and got to full throttle.
Got the plane up off the runway about 40 feet and flying straight and level for about 25 feet and then it rolls over and cartwheels into the ground. The plane was not climbing nor was I inputing elevator.

So...after action review...tested the battery packs and they still read 20.24. Didnt make sense until I pulled out my Kyosho FW-190(flies one one 5s 5000).
Flew it with a fresh battery(different brand) and it flew great as usual. Used one of the batteries from the crash and took off and immedietely saw there was no power at all. The plane was wallowing around and barely able to stay flying. Huge difference between the good pack and this one. The motor was also making odd whining sounds like it was not getting enough juice.
Was able to get the Kyosho plane landed safely and then retested the battery. Again still read 19.90. So....the packs used in the CMP 109 read fine and all voltage wise, but arent holding the voltage on discharge anymore and as a result....the CMP 109 simply couldnt develop enough thrust to stay airborne with sagging packs

I have ordered a replacement from AK-models.
Now will have a use for Ty's spinner. Glad I got one already.
I am, however, tempted to go glow or gas instead of the electric as losing a plane due to batteries that seem fine voltage wise but arent does not make me happy.

Sorry to hear about that!


Come back to the fuel side, man.

Yeah ben considering that....but the price of a new Saito 180 is offputting($400). I might look into a gas motor, but ive never used one and they dont seem to develop as much rpm no matter what size they are. From looking around....im seeing most gas engines develop max rpm of around 7500 for a motor of the right basic size for this plane....ie a 26cc. Most of the glow planes I fly get around 9000+, so 7500 would seem pretty anemic.
Anyone have any suggestions?

Kahloq,
What battery packs were you using that sagged, and how old/cycles wee they?
i've converted all my larger planes to glow/gas now, lost several on battery power, problem is when your glow/gas plane goes in you usually don't damage your motor, with ALL my 'sparkie' crashes either or both motor and batteries were destroyed[&o] makes for a very expensive crash!!! I wouldn't be concerned with the power/speed of the gas motors, it's easy to use a larger pitch prop to get the scale speed you want.

Cheers, Paul.

Hey Kahlog,
Sorry to hear about the 109. I have to admit, that while electrics have some advantages for sure, I have had enough battery problems that I do not feel comfortable with them in the bigger planes. I like the Saito 180 and you can find find them cheaper on ebay occasionally, and I had one so I used it. It spins a big prop and idles well inverted. However, it is expensive and vibrates no matter how well you balance the prop. I like 4-strokes, but if I were to stay glow and go 2-strke, I might consider the OS 120 AX. It is a good reliable engine that is decent inverted and powerful.
I didn't do expos on the radio. I may try that next time, but didn't get the chance to play around so much today. I am going to add a couple ounces to the front to move CG a tiny bit forward. I think it had too much throw but it acted a bit tail heavy and I would rather fly a warbird a touch nose heavy and land it fast rather than tail heavy.
Good luck on your new 109. I did a bunch of mods, glassed it, and added a pilot and it still cam under 15 lbs.
JD

Maybe the gas engines just use bigger props, and don't need to turn as many RPMs. If money were not object, the Saito FG-36 would certainly rock.

My bud Clark and I finally got to fly our 109's together this weekend...pretty sinister looking with both searching the sky for that hapless P51 or Spit. Clark has the Evolution 35 gasser in his. I'm using a trusty old Saito 150 that I've had for nearly 15 years. The 35 may have a very slight speed advantage in downhill straight runs but it's hard to tell. I think the Saito 180 would be perfect at this altitude but the 150 is no slouch. If you go with a 180 you'll need to shoehorn in a bigger fuel tank or settle for 5-6 min. flights. I get a safe 7 mins. but I NEED 10 so I'm installing a 4oz. hopper tank...just for grins. The Saito 35 FS gasser would be the ultimate motor for this plane...cheep fuel and the stock 16 oz. tank would fly it for much longer! But the cost of that motor????? Whoeeee!!

JD, your 109 looks awesome! Your mods came out great and the weathering is very cool. I'd fly your wing anytime! I set my CG @115mm...seems happy there. Throws are per the book except for more flap. I given her also at least -30% expo on the elevator...when all the bugs are worked out and you get her dialed in she'll fly just like you want her to.[sm=thumbup.gif].

When you guys refer to flaps on landing , are you useing them as flaps or spoiler /flaps ?

Anyone useing these retracts from Sierra on this plane ?

Yes, I have the Sierra gear. They work flawlessly...and they survive the crash too....so they'll be going in the new one.

LDM,
I made the "upper" flap stationary...so flaps is flaps! This plane certainly doesn't need spoilers to land at a reasonably low speed. With inner and outer flaps deployed it needs about 4 clicks of power over the threshold and she'll settle just right.

The batts were the 5s 4800 Zippy-R white shrinkwrap variety with no label from Hobbycity. I bought them 2 years ago and they dont sell them anymore. I probably had at least 50 cycles on them in various planes, but they never gave any hint of sagging until today....so i was taken by surprise. However, I should note that I havent flown the 109 in awile and had been flying my Kysoho 190 a lot using the batts one at a time. That plane is much less power hungry so the batts may have been starting to fade without me noticing until today.
Funny how a batt can read full voltage and then sag pretty bad.
Anyhow...not sure what Im going to do. I can still use the power 160 again in the new plane as I have other 5s 5000 mah turnigy and flightmax batts already on hand and those are pretty new.
I have a satio 180 in my ESM/KMP Me-109 and it flies quite well with a 16x8 prop. I just didnt want a cylinder head poking out the bottom since this CMP plane looks so good. I think on it for a bit.

Anyone know anything about this motor? And looking at the mounting, how would I mount this in the CMP Me-109?
http://www.rcaer.com/store/Details.c...=59&category=2

Sorry to hear about the loss Kahloq. The other side of the argument is that I converted mine from electric to glow some time back to get the weight down. It flew beautifully right up to the point that the engine stopped on my base turn to land. The plane went down in a swampy area next to our field and it took me 3 days of searching to find it. No damage luckily as it landed in 6 foot reeds but it makes me appreciate the reliability of electric. Plus - as you said the cylinder poking out the bottom puts me off... I currently have no engine installed while I decide what to do .

LOL I JUST FOUND THE MOTOR Id like to use......check this out guys. A saito 180 GASSER
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=SAIEG30
Woohoo. I get the sound of a 4 stroke and the reliablility of a gas motor(and cheaper fuel).


BUT for the price of the motor, hell, I could buy a reg saito 180 and have $300 to spend on glow fuel. Hmmmmmmmm!!!!!

kahlog

Sorry to hear of your loss.

For engines, I noticed Nitroplanes has started sellling nitro and gas engine for a good price. One example is a 50cc for $299.00. Look under "new items"

Claimed 5.5hp @7500 rpm. A course pitched 3 blade might work well on this. I may get one and try it on the SBD from EMS. I will purchase in a few weeks now that they are available more in line with whats comparable to them in price and quality..

Steve

I have a turnigy 50cc motor already, but figured it was way to big for this plane.

If interested you can get the saito 180 4 strokes for about $380 at Hobby Warehouse in Richfield Minn .

That FG-30 will probably be a kick-ass engine for decades of happy use. They are expensive, for sure. But I love my saitos. I have five of them. The only engine brand I own, actually.

Thanks for the input Ftrjok. I went ahead and set dual rates with the higher rate set at -30 exp and left the throw as you suggested and the lower one down to 10mm throw. I will give it another go when the weather clears and see which works best. I did add a couple ounces to the nose. One thing I didn't think about was that I did the CG measurement with gear extended and I raked the gear far enough forward that it changed the CG a couple of mm back with gear retracted. I set the CG to 112 with gear retracted. We will see how these mods work.

As for engines, I also dislike the engine sticking out, but the Saito is the most reliable engine that I have ever used inverted in a warbird. The one thing I dislike more than a engine sticking out underneath, is spending my Sunday afternoon fixing gear ripped out when I tried to dead-stick a warbird. From the picture, it isn't too bad.
JD